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Highlights from the Status and Trends in the Education of Hispanics - Enrollment in Colleges & Universities

Executive Summary
Elementary & Secondary School Enrollment
Grade Retention, Suspension, & Expulsion
Dropout Rates
High School Completion
Student Performance in Reading
Student Performance in Mathematics
Student Performance in Science
Trends in Credit Earning & Coursetaking in High School
Advanced Coursetaking in High School
Advanced Placement Examinations
Language Spoken at Home
Enrollment in Colleges & Universities
Degrees Conferred by Colleges & Universities
Adult Education
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Hispanic enrollments in colleges and universities increased between 1980 and 2000.

A larger proportion of Hispanics attends college than 20 years ago: in 2000, 22 percent of 18- to 24-year-old Hispanics were enrolled in colleges and universities, up from 16 percent in 1980. There was a similar increase in the proportion of Hispanic high school completers going on to college. In 2000, 36 percent of Hispanic high school completers ages 18 to 24 enrolled in colleges and universities, higher than the 27 percent of Hispanic high school completers who enrolled in 1985. Despite the rise in the percentage of Hispanics enrolling in college, their enrollment rates remain lower than those of their White peers. The relatively low Hispanic high school completion rate (see Indicator 3.4), particularly among immigrants, is an important factor in the difference between the White and Hispanic proportions of the population attending college because persons who do not complete high school are generally ineligible for college or university enrollment (supplemental table 7.1a).

Hispanic young adults who are U.S. citizens are more likely than the general Hispanic young adult population to enroll in colleges and universities. In 2000, Hispanic U.S. citizens ages 18 to 24 had a higher enrollment rate compared with the general Hispanic population in this age group. The enrollment rate based on 18- to 24-yearold high school completers was also higher for Hispanics who were U.S. citizens than for the general Hispanic population. Hispanic U.S. citizens 18 to 24 years old who were high school completers had a similar enrollment rate to White 18- to 24-yearold high school completers.

The increase in Hispanic enrollment is being driven by both population growth and by increasing proportions of the population enrolling in colleges and universities.15 In 1980, Hispanics represented 4 percent of students enrolled in colleges and universities. Two decades later (in 2000), Hispanics comprised 10 percent of the total enrollment (supplemental table 7.1b).

Although there has been an increase in the percentage of Hispanic students enrolling in college, they are disproportionately enrolled in 2-year colleges. This pattern is typical for first-generation students in general.16 In 2000, Hispanic students accounted for 14 percent of the students enrolled in 2-year colleges and 7 percent of these in 4-year institutions. (White students made up a larger percentage of the student body in 4-year institutions than they did in 2-year institutions; students from other racial/ethnic groups constituted roughly the same percentage at both 2- and 4-year institutions.)

Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) are degree- granting public or private institutions of higher education eligible for Title IV funding in the United States and Puerto Rico in which Hispanics comprise 25 percent or more of the undergraduate full-time-equivalent enrollment.17 In 1999, Hispanic enrollment in HSIs accounted for nearly one-half (45 percent) of the total Hispanic undergraduate enrollment in colleges and universities, nearly the same proportion they accounted for in 1990 (46 percent). Hispanic enrollment in HSIs accounted for 42 percent of the total enrollment in HSIs, up from 29 percent in 1990.18

Source
15  U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Hispanic Serving Institutions: Statistical Trends from 1990-1999 (NCES 2002-051).
16  E.C. Warburton, R. Bugarin, A. Nuņez, and C.D. Carroll, Bridging the Gap: Academic Preparation and Postsecondary Success of First-Generation Students (NCES 2001-153).
17  Title IV of the Higher Education Act (HEA) governs the federal student financial aid programs.
18  The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is responsible for and maintains the U.S. Department of Education Minority Postsecondary Institution Listing, which includes a listing of Hispanic-serving postsecondary institutions.


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